Nov 26 Happy Birthday Anna Belle!

Sometimes it's easy to find a female ancestor, and sometimes not so much.

Anna Belle Robinson Pettey had been a bit tricky to locate, but I found a few things about her. She was the wife of my great uncle Leonard Dewey Pettey.

She appears on the 1920 census as 18 years of age with parents J. S.  and Jessie Lynch Robinson along with 3 brothers. She was born 26 Nov 1902 in Jewett, Leon County, Texas. In 1930 the census notes that she was married to Leonard Dewey Pettey and they had a 5-year-old son, Leonard Dewy Jr "Dub" and a nephew, Herbert G Robinson, age 7, living with them.

Dewey Sr. and Anna Belle later divorced and she never remarried.

She was the sole publisher of the Jewett Messenger which she took over after her father's death.  She had started helping out with the paper when she was 18 and after taking it over she ran it until her death in 1964.

Happy Birthday Claude!

We haven't heard much about the Brumbalow family, but apparently they were pretty close to the Jeffreys for a time. CLAUDE BETHEL BRUMBALOW was born November 25, 1916 in Hamilton county, Texas to Joe B. and Ruby May Jeffrey Brumbalow. Ruby was a daughter of Andrew Bethel Jeffrey - brother to William M. Jeffrey - my great grandfather. Claude is my second cousin (once removed).
As a child Claude is on the 1930 census and the 1940 Hamilton County census with his family and a couple of Jeffreys. In 1930, Claude was 14 and living with them was Jerry Jeffrey, listed as uncle to head of household (Claude's father, Joe) and Frank Jeffrey listed as brother-in-law.  Coincidentally, I had been looking for Jerry on the censuses but had never found him until now.
In 1940 Frank Jeffrey is gone but Jerry is still there at age 74. Claude was 24 and working with the Soil Erosion Corp.
He later married Annie Bell Anthony and they had at least five children.

I almost cried when I found the death certificate of the oldest daughter. At age 7, Patsy Fay died of extensive burns caused by her clothes catching on fire from the stove. She was in the hospital 45 days before she died. I can't imagine....

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Another sad birth and death.
Infant Petty

Happy Anniversary

On 24 November 1853, Eldridge Franks married his second wife, Minerva A Ross in Marshall County, Mississippi. (another researcher says they were married in Caldwell County, TX. I have to look into this more.)
Minerva had been living with them at least since 1850 while Eldredge's first wife, Julia Ann, was still alive. She was listed on the 1850 census for Mississippi as 13 years of age. No relationship was given on the censuses for that year.

In 1954 Eldridge was on the tax rolls for Caldwell County, Texas and is listed as owning one slave.

Agriculture developed rapidly in antebellum Texas, as evidenced by a steady expansion in the number of farms, the amount of improved acreage, the value of livestock, and the size of crops produced. Slave labor contributed heavily to that growth.
Only a minority of antebellum Texans, however, actually owned slaves and participated directly in the cash-crop economy. Only one family in four held so much as a single slave, and more than half of those had fewer than five slaves. Small and large planters, defined respectively as those owning ten to nineteen and twenty or more slaves, held well over half of the state's slaves in both 1850 and 1860.
From Texas State History Online
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/npa01

Eldridge and Minerva had one son named Marcus L. Franks.

What I find particularly interesting about this couple are her name and her son's name. I have a 2X great-grandmother whose maiden name was Minerva M Franks. She also was from Mississippi. She named her second son William MARCUS. She and her husband also lived for a time in Caldwell County.
I'm pretty convinced that there is a relationship between this Minerva Franks and the other Franks who lived in Caldwell County, but I have yet to find the link.

After Minerva Ross Franks died, Eldridge Franks married Martha Elizabeth Fleming, granddaughter of Jeremiah and Sarah Jeffrey. This made Eldridge the husband of my 1st cousin (4X removed).

Happy Birth Month

I just realized that I have some ancestors in my database with month and year for important dates, but no day. So I'm wishing my second great-great uncle, WESLEY A. WILLIS, a happy birth month.

Wesley was the oldest of about nine children of William Franklin and Ann J. Stanley Willis. He was born in Georgia in November of 1832. By 1850 the family was living in Alabama. In 1852 he married Agnes Kent. In 1855 they were moving westward and had their second child in Louisiana. They were in Panola County, Texas in 1857 where Wesley was appointed Postmaster. He and his family are enumerated on the 1860 census for McMillan, Panola County where he is listed as a teamster.
From what I've been able to find, during the civil war it seems he was enlisted in Company F, Griffon's Battalion Texas Infantry around 1863. In Jan 1864 he was on daily duty for "having no shoes." On March 20, 1864 his card reads that at Vermillion, LA he deserted from furlough.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/David%20Carr_0.pdf

In 1870 the family was living in Marlin, Falls County, Texas next door to his parents and family. Sometime between 1870 and 1875 his wife, Agnes died.

In 1875 Wesley married Mary A Stevenson in Louisiana. She was one of three sisters who married a Willis man. One husband was Robert, Wesley's brother and the other was Berry K. Willis, Wesley's cousin.

In 1880 they were living in Wise County, TX. In 1890 they had an 18 year old nephew and a 21 year old son in law living with them. I've not been able to find out who these boys were.

Wesley was a brother of my 2X great grandmother, Martha Willis WELCH, mother of Eliza Jane Welch PETTEY.

Birth Dates and Others

I've committed myself to posting more in the upcoming year. I've printed out a report from my database of a calendar with important dates on it. I will be sharing what I know about ancestors who were born or married or died on those days.

Starting today! Nov. 22 Birthdays!

GABRIEL A PETTY was born on this day in 1773. I don't have a lot of information on him but he was the grandson of Thomas Petty, the only known child of Hubert Petty. (Hubert was the first Petty to land on US soil as an indentured servant).
Gabriel was born in Warren, N Carolina to James and Martha Clanton Petty. He was the last of 12 children. He married Sarah Darwin (1) and Nancy Sarah (2). He had a large family of about 14 children and died in 1848.

LEONARD DALE PETTEY SR.  was born in 1937 in Nacogdoches, Texas, the son of  Leonard Dewey Pettey. (There's a question in my database as to who his mother was. Dewey was married twice, once to Anna Belle Robinson and to Edith (?). Since this family was relatively recent, records are not yet available.) Dale lived in Pasadena in later years and was a Harris County Sheriff officer for 10 years, employed by Texaco for 33 years.  He was married to Sylvia Ann Meadows. He died in 2009.
I never met him but we did communicate by email about family history.

More Letters from Italy

Jumping to Conclusions by Carla Pettey

I've discovered more of my mom's writings recently. Here is one I transcribed.

Carla Pettey

Nov 1988

Jumping To Conclusions

In meeting new people sometimes we prejudge them because of something they say or do. Because of some mannerism or speech pattern, we immediately jump to conclusions and don't give them the benefit of the doubt.

It was a long time ago when I learned a lesson about jumping to conclusions on judging people.

In the spring of 1943 during WWII, our food ration had been reduced almost to the starvation point. People could not have survived unless they bought food on the black market where prices had gone up by more than 20%. Looking for food at a better price became an important activity. People from the city would go out of town to small villages where farmers grew their own vegetables, fruits and stock. Often these farmers were glad to sell their surplus.

There was no mode of transportation to these villages. Many people walked there, rode their bikes, motorcycles or trucks. Also, they hitched rides on empty German or Italian military transport trucks that were returning north from the battle front.

It was on the back of one of the military trucks that my older sister and I rode for two days to the Tuscan hills. There were other people with us, and upon arriving at our destination everyone jumped off the truck and went their separate ways. My sister and I followed a narrow dirt road that led up the hill to a small village.

My sister and I stood in the middle of the town's square confused and hesitant. We just looked around, not knowing what to do. There were only a few pew people seated at the square's outdoor cafe. They recognized we were strangers, and they just stared at us.

Soon a tall, lean man came toward us. He wore a long black robe with a silver cross on his chest. He held his folded hands in front of him, and on his face he had a friendly and gentle smile. He was the village priest.

"Where are you from, and how did you get here?" he asked.

"We come from Rome," my sister answered, "and we hitched a ride on a German army truck. The driver let us off down the road and we walked to your village."

The priest remarked, "I hear things are really bad in Rome."

"Yes," my sister said, "in Rome we have a shortage of food, coal for heating and cooking, and transportation. Many people are forced to sell their jewels and family heirlooms to buy food on the black market. Others go to farms outside the city and even further to buy food, and we came here to do the same."

This seemingly good and gentle man appeared concerned about our plight. We talked some more. He was truly sympathetic. Then he leaned over us, tilted his head to one side and said in a low voice, "I have some food stored in the parish house. Often the farmers bring me olive oil, fresh eggs, cured ham, sausage, flour. I can let you have some."

My sister and I were surprised at the offer. Because, usually, it was we who had to do the asking, almost begging, and now he was offering us food.

I thought, "How much would he charge us?"

"What else did he have up his sleeves?"

My sister smiled in appreciation, while I fumed. "Why, he was no better than those profiteers in Rome who took advantage of the food shortage and charged the hungry people exorbitant prices." I thought, "Here is a man married to the Church, a man who served God, dedicated to humility and sacrifice...a priest educated and trained to alleviate the suffering of the people, and bring them comfort and hope." I was angry! "How could he? How dare he make a profit from the food the farmers gave him? No doubt in exchange for the absolution of their sins."

All that I had heard about priests was true then: they were greedy. All they wanted was money and a full belly.

While I stewed over this, my sister, pleased that we had made a contact so quickly, smiled and asked, "How much do you want for it?"

I stared at the priest and anticipated the big price he would ask. It astounded me when I heard him say, "I don't want to sell it to you, I want to give it to you."

I turned my head so the priest would not read my thoughts. I was embarrassed and ashamed to have judged this good man so hastily. Of course no one knew how I felt, but, nevertheless, my conscience bothered me. On the other hand, it felt good to discover that the priest was a virtuous and honest man, concerned and caring about our sufferings.

The lesson I learned that spring day of many years ago was never to jump to conclusions and always give the other person the benefit of the doubt.